We review the literature on the effects of aggregate crises on human biological outcomes. The crises we consider are acute, severe, and unexpected negative events occurring at the population level: recessions, famines, epidemics, natural and environmental disasters, and wars. Our review of the literature suggests that the effects of aggregate crises on human biology are pervasive and longlasting.

Financial crises are not uncommon and their consequences are often severe, thus they constitute an important and interesting field of economics research. In the 1990s alone, four waves of financial crises occurred around the world: the European ERM crisis in 1992-1993 – which also hit a number of non-ERM currencies like the Finnish markka, the Mexican Peso crisis in 1994-1995, the Asian crisis ...

the year 2016 could turn out to be a turning point for global health, new political realities and global insecurities will test governance and financing mechanisms in relation to both people and planet. but most importantly political factors such as the global power shift and “the rise of the rest” will define the future of global health. a new mix of health inequity and security challenges has...

Planet Earth is facing one of its most dramatic biodiversity crises, and we humans are behind it. Two hundred thousand years ago, somewhere in Africa, a new form of life arose — Homo sapiens sapiens. Approximately one hundred thousand years later, we left Africa, spreading across the continents to dominate and transform all ecosystems. Only now are we starting to understand our impact in the Bi...

Genetic modification has gotten a hostile reception from activists who claim to be protecting the planet. But the most powerful underlying emotion for their unrea-soned fear—rapid human population growth—is rapidly becoming irrelevant. Will biotechnology overcrowd the planet by saving more sick people while producing more food to fuel more population growth? In a word, no. The opposition of the...